84 THE CONDOR Vo?,. IX clined to think that their depredations are not as extensive as those of others of the jay family. As soon as the young birds are able to travel there see?ns to be a sort of ver- tical migration, during which large numbers of the birds ascend a few thousand feet into the heavier timbered country, evidently in sea:rch of insect food, although I have not examined stomachs to verify this statement. This vertical movement does not' affect the entire number of the species for, as I have stated, during August and September the birds are much in evidence thruout their range. With the first frosts they congregate in small scattered flocks and perform wlmtever migration nmy be credited to them, which I am inclined to think amounts to very little, usually before the first big storm; but climatic conditions seem to have very little effect upon them, food supply alone being responsible for their migratory 111ovenlents. When the winter coat of white has entirely covered their food. on the bleak hillsides, they return to their winter haunts nearer the inhabited sections where the waste from barn-yard and granary affords an abundant food supply until spring comes again. Denver, Colorado. THE BREEDING BIRDS OF ESCONDIDO By C. S. SHARP HE territory covered in the following list lies in the west-central part of San Diego County and about thirty to thirty-five miles north of San Diego. It comprises the valleys of Escondido and San Pasqual and part of the Ber- nardo Rancho. Escondido, by which name both the town and valley are now called, was originally an old Spanish grant, Rancho Rincon del Diablo, which comprised some 13,000 acres of hill and valley land. San Pasqual and Bernardo adjoin the grant on the east and south and both are crossed, San Pasqual for its whole length, by the Beruardo River, which takes its beginning in the mountains to the east iu the Santa Ysabel and Pamo creeks. As the Bernardo River it flows in a general xvesterly course and finally reaches the coast as the San Dieguito River at the big laguna of that name lying north of Del Mar. Where it leaves what we call Crescent Valley (below Bernardo and south- west of Eseondido) and takes its way between the hills to the laguna and the sea, some twelve miles away, the elevation above sea level is 225 feet (U.S. Geological Survey). At the upper end of San Pasqual the elevation is 350 feet, distance about ten miles, Bernardo lying between. At Escortdido the elevations run from 700 to 800 or 900 feet, with many hills scattered over the valley, aud principally on its outskirts, running up a few hundred feet more; distance inland about fifteen miles. The greater part of all this is under cultivation; only the higher hills retain their covering of brush, and live oaks that once were plentifully scattered over the valley are only found now on some of the higher northern exposures and in the ravines. Much of the land is given up to farming and there are hundreds of acres of orchards and vineyards. San Pasqual and Bernardo are wholly dairy and farm- ing countries with few orchards, many alfalfa fields, and several fine eucalyptus groves. All along the Bernardo river for nearly its entire course to Crescent Valley
